Cassette to CD using Audacity on Mac OS X

[rimbaud65]

It struck me as somewhat unnecessary to make such comments. To me the stereo is the focus point for music and you may call me unfashionable or whatever you want. On that stereo I have a CD-player, even a record player (Rega P3-24) and with some good sounding speakers (Audio tronic CM3) I have no conceivable reason to make any other storage than on CDs. Why should I store them on MP3s and play on the computer or some half-ass MP3-player? The CDs I've done are stored properly in 5 CD-bags, which I have tucked away pretty nicely, not being exposed to sunlight or anything. If I take care of them in a reasonable way there's no reason to expect anything of what you suggest.

[waxcylinder]

Koz is not suggesting storing them as MP3s - he is suggesting storing them as WAVs additionally on other media (like external USB discs for example). All he is pointing out is that the CDs you make are created using a photochemical process, similar to photography. And just as old photographs fade over time - even in albums let alone when in direct sunlight - so your homemade CDs will degrade over time no matter how careful with them you are (and you do have to get them out to play them). It's also why my important family photos are now carefully scanned and backed up on external discs.

And BTW you don't need to burn a whole lot of CDs to get good quality lossless audio on a hifi - there are a number of high quality devices on the market that will either stream lossless WAVs to your hi-fi kit - or other devices that you can load WAVs onto for playing and can be connected directly (by cable) to your hi-fi. But you still need to be doing some backup and storage of the data (preferrably off-site copies too if you are being very thorough about protecting your work against loss or for archive).

WC

[rimbaud65]

After researching the longevity of CDs I have concluded certain things. The expected lifespan in normal cases seems to be 10 years if they're preserved correctly and not exposed to extreme temperature or sunlight. Some say 3 months or something in rare cases I can't describe or doesn't know anything about. Probably in pretty harsh condition and with extremely bad CDs. Some talk about 5-10 years, some say 75 or 100 years. Surely I don't know what the truth is concerning this but I just hope that my choice of CDs, Sony CD-r 80 minutes, will have the capability to last. I suppose one could make new CDs from the ones I have now in 5 years or so. They are for listening primarily and not for storage.

[kozikowski]

MP3 is a distribution and Music Player medium, not capture, production or storage. When you decide to make new CD of the work, the original, perfect quality WAV files should still available. When the CD starts skipping is not a good time to decide to rescue it and make a new one.

Even though the CD transfer is loss-less and the format is basically WAV, each transfer has to go through error-correction and the system doesn't always get it right. Music CDs do not insist on bit-for-bit perfection like a Data CD does.

This is above catastrophic failures. "The dog ate my homework and then started in on my CDs."

CDs are full of surprises The shiny, rainbow data side is the one people pay attention to and that's the surface you clean to get rid of skipping, but the actual data layer is right under the label. Right under. Scratch the label side and that's the end of the disk. No cleaning will bring it back.

I'm using Sony CD-R and have been for years. Some of the older disks are starting to change color even though they still play.

Koz

[rimbaud65]

When you decide to make new CD of the work, the original, perfect quality WAV files should still available. When the CD starts skipping is not a good time to decide to rescue it and make a new one.

Koz

I still have the cassettes I used so I guess I could make new files in Audacity and burn new CDs if they start to give up on me.

[waxcylinder]

And that assumes that the tapes haven't degraded (as they do) - and that you hstill have a decent working tape deck in the future

I promise you it's much easier to save copies of your bit-perfect WAVs than it is to go back and re-do the transcriptions.

WC

[rimbaud65]

It's not easier to save copies of my WAVs because they weren't saved in the process of making the CDs. I think you guys are either too pessimistic of the longevity of CDrs or other people are lying through the teeth about the matter. If I am careful and store them in my 5 CD-bags, keep them out of sunlight and such things I shouldn't have to worry that much, not that they should fail after a few years atleast. Almost everybody out there talks about there Cd-rs still playing after many years, 5, 6, 7, 8 years or so, so why shouldn't mine<???
What I will do is to preserve the cassettes I still have in the best way I can and maybe to make other copies of the CDs later on. This is all I will say about the matter.

[kozikowski]

I'm genetically pessimistic. I still have the original WAV files from a live theatrical voice capture I did last year and recording sessions before that. And they're backed up. Producers are fond of calling and saying, "Do you still have those sound clips we shot....?

Yes, if everything goes according to plan, you should be good to go.

Koz